The Seventeenth International Students Summit (ISS) onFood, Agriculture and Environment in the New Century
Students Taking Action to Address Inequality Through Greater Accessto Resources and Knowledge in Order to Promote Sustainable Agriculture
September 25 – 26, 2017
Statement
The world is now facing a crisis of sustainability, and we see it as tremendously important todraw together the wisdom and vitality of youth, the torchbearers of the future of mankind. There areespecially wide ranging missions for agricultural students, as agricultural science plays a key role in thesolution of fundamental problems in food production and safety, environmental conservation, energy,and human health. The system of food production and consumption is without doubt closely related tothe condition of the natural environment, the stage of economic development, and food culture in eachcountry, and their patterns and problems reflect regional characteristics. It is thus important tounderstand how agriculture and food systems should be organized and maintained in each society.
In 2001, Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI) organized the “InternationalStudents Summit (ISS) on Food, Agriculture and Environment in the New Century” to provide students
from our global partner universities with an opportunity to gather and exchange views and ideas on
global food, agricultural and environmental issues, and also to discuss their own roles in sustainable
development. Since then, ISS has been held every year at Tokyo NODAI. The participating students
adopted Action Plan in 2002 and agreed to establish the International Students Forum (ISF) in 2003.
The 12th ISS for the first time was held overseas at Michigan State University, USA, which is the firstpartner university of Tokyo NODAI. The 14th ISS in 2014 was sponsored jointly by Kasetsart
University (KU) and Tokyo NODAI, at Kamphaeng Saen Campus, KU, in Thailand.
This year, the 17th ISS will be held on September 25-26, 2017 in cooperation with one of ourgreat partner universities, National Chung Hsing University at Taichung City, Taiwan. In 2016, TokyoNODAI has signed a cooperation agreement with Thammasat University at Thailand and Kangwon
National University at Korea. The new partner universities will contribute to the further development ofISS as the unique opportunity to connect agricultural students in the world. The theme for this summit
is “Students Taking Action to Address Inequality Through Greater Access to Resources andKnowledge in Order to Promote Sustainable Agriculture”, which was adopted at the 16th ISS. We
hope the participating students to focus on their activities undertaken by each university in theirpresentations and discussions. The framework of student activity as to the rationale, methods,implications (economic, social and cultural), and constraints should be clarified in order to foster theircontributions to the solution of global problems for the sustainability of this world.
Only one oral presentation will be accommodated for each participating university in thefollowing sessions.
Opening Session: Opening ceremony and keynote speeches
Session 1: Universities with Students’ Actions in the field of foodSession 2: Universities with Students’ Actions in the field of environment
Session 3: Universities with Students’ Actions in the field of agriculture
Session 4: Universities with Students’ Actions in the field of education
Closing Session: Discussion and adoption of joint communique
Organizing Committee & Students Committee,
International Students Forum,
Tokyo University of Agriculture
National Chung Hsing University